Sara and Mike got married on New Years Eve in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Richard App Gallery and it was beautiful.

I developed such a real and emotional connection to this couple that it is hard to even put into words how I feel about their wedding day. They are such good people. So genuine, so honest and both full of passion and empathy for others. It was a true honor to be there for their day. It was a true celebration.....and I cried, a lot.

There was champagne. There were sparklers. It was glam. First look was where their first date was. It was New Years Eve. Tacos were for dinner. Late night pizza. New Years kisses. Dancing. Joy. Celebration. Love. It was perfect. It was magical.

Since it's hard to put into words how much I adored their wedding I've decided to let a poem do it for me. Typical Jess. This was a poem read during the ceremony that seriously hit me like a load of bricks. I was thinking about the words for days after.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer